


Prescient - Kitten Version

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1217]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 09:18:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17546921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: Tony finds a kitten at the entrance to NCIS. This isn't normal and sets his gut churning. What dangers await him? What is going on at headquarters?





	Prescient - Kitten Version

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 08/30/2002 for the word [prescient](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2002/08/30/prescient).
> 
> prescient  
> Knowing or anticipating the outcome of events before they happen.
> 
> This is for prompt #5 of the August 2018 Five Prompts Challenge located [here](https://ncis-discuss.livejournal.com/147463.html) which has a lovely image provided by rose_malmaison.

  


Tony’s gut wasn’t as well known as Gibbs, but it had its own prescient abilities. Right now, it was going crazy. The cause, a brown, orange, and white domestic long haired kitten. 

Given he was getting ready to enter the NCIS building when he saw the kitten at the entrance, it was a pretty safe bet it wasn’t normal. Tony’s gut, though, said it was more than just unusual that it was a sign of something really terrible coming down. The damnedest thing about it was that the kitten seemed to be waiting specifically for him.

He’d seen a coworker enter through the same doors he was getting ready to go through not 5 minutes ago. There had been no sign of a kitten trying to get in then. It wasn’t until Tony had his hand on the door ready to open it that the kitten darted out in front of him. 

He couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding that accompanied the sight of the kitten. However, even he hadn’t anticipated what he actually found when he opened the door to NCIS. All the hallways were dark and the building silent.

This was not a good sign as the building should be manned at all times, but especially as it was 9am and should be in the middle of the morning arrival rush for agents. If the building was in lockdown, he shouldn’t have been able to enter at all. Tony had never seen the building like this outside of lockdown, so he didn’t know what to expect.

He pulled his sidearm out and held it in a loose grip, ready to fire should he find adversaries on his path. The kitten had managed to follow him in and at first was scouting ahead of Tony, but something spooked the kitten. Tony wasn’t sure what had scared the kitten. 

He just knew that the kitten had gone from being in front of him to trying to hide behind his legs. Tony slowed down even more and became even more cautious as he neared the intersection that the kitten had run from. He glanced down the hallway, but didn’t see anything suspicious.

He didn’t drop his guard, though. The whole situation was too strange for him to feel comfortable taking himself off of alert. He continued to make his way through NCIS and into the bullpen. 

At first glance the bullpen also seemed empty, but then he caught sight of a shadow moving along the walls. Tony paused not sure if this was friend or foe. He should have been the first one from his team in, but Balboa and others regularly came in around the same time he did or earlier. 

It was also possible that it was one of those days where Gibbs had an early meeting in MTAC and actually got in before anyone else. Usually, if you weren’t in by Gibbs you were in trouble. The exception was when Gibbs had to be in MTAC early and then MCRT members could be a touch late without getting in trouble.

Gibbs would still know if you were actually late, though, and you would still get in trouble for that, so you couldn’t just slack off because Gibbs had an MTAC meeting. Tony didn’t remember an MTAC meeting being on the calendar for Gibbs today, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. It wouldn’t be the first time Gibbs got called in for an MTAC meeting early or that one was added to his calendar after everyone else went home. 

For all Tony knew, they’d gotten warning of whatever was going down at headquarters, right now, and were actively discussing it in MTAC or had already put some kind of plan in place that he hadn’t been notified of. As SFA instead of team lead, Tony didn’t always get notified about changes in plans. In fact, he got notified a lot more than other SFAs did, simply because most people were scared of Gibbs, but still something like this he probably wouldn’t have been notified of unless Gibbs called him. 

He didn’t think he’d been spotted, yet, so he paused to see if the shadow was friend or foe. Unfortunately, the kitten decided that stealth time was over and it meowed. Doubly unfortunate for Tony as the shadow was either trigger happy or foe and immediately opened fire. 

The bullets didn’t hit Tony, but he still took damage as the kitten dug its claws into him as it climbed him like a tree out of fear due to the bullets. Tony tried to calm him down, but he’d felt at least one claw pierce his skin. He couldn’t exactly check to see how much damage the kitten had done to him given the darkness.

He should have grabbed a flashlight from a utility closet, but he hadn’t been thinking about it. He had his phone as a flashlight, but he didn’t want to give away his position anymore than the kitten already had. He hoped that it was just a scratch and nothing to worry about as he moved himself and the kitten to better cover while petting the kitten reassuringly in hopes of preventing more meows from escaping it.

He was tempted to try to make it up to MTAC, but that would be extremely risky as it would mean moving out from undercover. The staircase to MTAC was visible to all and he would be an easy target. He hadn’t heard anything more from the shadow since the initial volley of bullets, though.

That could be good or bad. Whoever it was may have moved on or they could be trying to pinpoint where he was and would soon be coming back for a second round. This time one at closer range and more likely to be deadly.

Tony startled badly when a hand touched his arm. He didn’t actually jump, but it was a near thing. He turned around quickly to confront whoever it was only to find himself face to face with Gibbs.

Gibbs made a follow me motion with his head and Tony nodded. He badly wanted to ask his boss what was going on, but he knew this wasn’t the time. Hopefully, Gibbs was leading them somewhere that they could pause and exchange a sitrep so that Tony knew what to expect.

Regardless, just having Gibbs here, knowing that they would have each other’s sixes, made him feel better. He still wanted to know what exactly was going on, but that would have to wait for a time when they were out of danger or at least had some breathing room. Tony blinked in surprise when he realized that Gibbs was slowly leading them to the stairway that led to the upper level and MTAC.

“Are you sure that’s safe, boss?”

“You go up, I’ll cover you and join you later. McGee is already up there.”

Tony gulped, but nodded, readying himself to run up the steps as quickly and silently as he could with a kitten still hanging onto him. At least he could get a good sitrep from McGee once he got up there. He just hoped that Gibbs wasn’t putting himself in a bunch of extra danger to save the team.

Finally, they were close enough that Tony had a good shot at the staircase. Gibbs motioned that he was going to go find a better position to cover Tony. Tony nodded and stayed behind cover while he waited for Gibbs’ signal that he was ready. 

Finally, Gibbs’ motioned him to go and Tony gently grabbed the kitten and held it in his arms against his chest so that it wouldn’t accidentally fall as he placed his gun back in it’s shoulder holster and took off trusting Gibbs and his speed to prevent any bullets from actually hitting him. Tony breathed a sigh of relief when he made it upstairs safely.

He’d heard a few bullets, but nothing had come anywhere close to hitting him. He found McGee standing at the railing looking down. “What’s going on?” Tony asked.

McGee gestured to MTAC. Tony actually had access to MTAC on his own, but McGee couldn’t get in unless someone else let him in. McGee followed Tony into MTAC and they were greeted by Vance and a few other agents. 

Tony was surprised when the door to MTAC opened a few minutes later. Apparently, Gibbs knew some secret ways to get to the upper level or Tony was the bait to draw their attention so he could take out the rest and make it up safely himself. MTAC itself was mostly dark. 

The big screens were lit, but other than that there weren’t any lights on. The kitten made itself known at that point in time by meowing and digging its claws into Tony as it jumped off of him. “Ow!” Tony protested.

Gibbs pulled out a flashlight and shined it on Tony. “Where are you hurt?”

“I’m sure it’s just a scratch.”

Gibbs glared and Tony sighed. Stripping off his jacket, Tony held out his arm for Gibbs to inspect. Gibbs shined the flashlight on Tony’s arms but didn’t see anything concerning. “Is that all?”

Tony nodded. “It was just the kitten, boss. No bullets, promise.”

“You better not be keeping secrets from me.” Gibbs eyed Tony, trying to determine if he was keeping something from him.

“If anyone is keeping secrets, it’s you. What the heck is going on here?”

“Apologies, DiNozzo. Keeping you in the dark was my request,” Vance spoke up.

Tony turned around to look at Vance. “And why was that?”

“It’s a very delicate situation and the less that know about it the better. However, Gibbs convinced me that if we want to resolve it without too much bloodshed his whole team needed to be read in.”

“So read us in, director.”

“We recently discovered that there is a plot to take me out led by a few disgruntled employees, who haven’t been happy with the changes I’ve been making.”

“Were we under suspicion, director?”

Leon looked a touch sheepish, “Well, you have to admit that no one on the team liked it when I split the team up.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting. 

“Anyway, Gibbs convinced me that none of you would be a part of this, but we still don’t know who’s actually involved.”

“What’s with the building being dark?”

“Someone knocked out the power. We think this is in conjunction with the attack on me, but we can’t be sure.”

“Where is everyone?”

“Most agents are down in autopsy.”

“What?” Tony shouted.

“No, not like that. It’s the safest place for them, right now.”

“Everyone there has been vetted to be confirmed they’re not part of the plot?” Tony asked.

Vance shook his head. “That would have taken too much time. Time, we didn’t have.”

“So there’s a good chance there’s an accomplice or two down in autopsy. We need to have people brought up one at a time, so that we can question them.”

“Not so fast, DiNozzo,” Vance interrupted.

“There’s more?”

Vance nodded. “We’ve been informed that a bomb has been placed somewhere in the building and another in the Navy Yard and that they will set them off if they see us trying to warn people away or if we don’t give them what they want.”

“What do they want?”

“My resignation,” Vance stated calmly before continuing, “Apparently, they think someone else wouldn’t have done the same things and are threatening that good people will be killed if I don’t step down and let someone else take over.”

“Do we know anything about who is involved?”

Vance shook his head. Tony sighed and turned to face Gibbs, “Boss?”

Gibbs nodded. Tony turned to McGee, “McGee work with Vance to figure out who our suspects are. Gibbs and I will try to get us some more hands on information.”

As they moved towards the door the kitten made its presence known again wanting to follow them out. “Does anyone know what the deal is with this kitten? I found it outside.”

“Outside?”

“It was waiting for me at the doors to the building.”

Gibbs suddenly turned and eyed the kitten with suspicion. “Boss, it can’t be the bomb. I would have felt it when it was in my arms.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous or related to the case, DiNozzo.”

Before Tony could say anything else in protest, Gibbs ordered, “McGee get one of those sensing gadgets over here.”

McGee ran a bomb detector scan over the kitten, but it returned nothing.

“Happy now?” Tony glared at Gibbs.

“No. Check those RFQ things.”

McGee frowned before he realized what Gibbs was talking about, “I think you mean RFID, boss.”

Gibbs frowned. “Whatever, just do it.”

McGee shook his head and looked for an RFID scanner. They didn’t use those regularly, so the chances of one actually being in MTAC was slim, but he would check. McGee frowned when he actually found an RFID scanner. 

Just what had they been checking for in here. It didn’t make any sense. Shaking his head, McGee moved to the kitten and scanned it for RFID signals. 

McGee frowned as the results came back. That wasn’t what he was expecting at all. “The kitten is registered to a Charlie Thomas.”

“Why does that name seem familiar?” Vance pondered out loud.

“Because he’s one of the ones who was let go recently due to your changes.” Gibbs pointed out.

“If he was let go, what’s his kitten doing here?” McGee wondered.

“No idea, but my best guess is that he’s involved somehow. McGee get on it.” Tony ordered.

McGee nodded and immediately started typing away on his laptop. He flashed a few images up onto the big screens. “These are the coworkers that interacted with Charlie the most.”

“Let’s go see if any of those are in autopsy or lurking anywhere else in the building.”

Tony nodded in agreement with Gibbs, calling over his shoulder as he followed Gibbs back out into the main area of headquarters, “Call us if you find anything more.”

Tony quickly closed the door before the kitten could follow them. Gibbs made his way slowly down the stairs, but there were no shots fired. Tony followed after Gibbs was out of the firing line. 

They made their way down to autopsy. They didn’t meet anyone on the way down, but sure enough multiple of the people they’d seen on the screen were in the crowd in autopsy. As Tony and Gibbs led the people they’d identified out of autopsy one of them yelled out, “Coward! Can’t even face me, himself.”

Then all havoc broke loose as an explosion was heard outside and people started panicking despite the fact that they were trained agents and should know better than that. In the chaos, most of the people they wanted to interrogate escaped, but Tony managed to hang onto one.  
Normally, they would have taken him to interrogation, but they didn’t have time for that.

Gibbs decided to just go for straight up intimidation. It worked on a lot of people and worked on this person too. He started spilling his guts and soon they were able to tell the bomb squad where the bomb in the building was. 

About the same time, power was finally restored to the building and they were able to start the cleanup efforts. The whole plot came out as they rounded up the culprits. The brain behind this plot was Charlie who was disgruntled over being let go.

He thought he could prove Vance unfit for the job and had convinced the others that they would benefit if they went along with it. All of them had known they would be on the chopping block if they weren’t careful. It hadn’t been hard to convince any of them as none of them had liked Vance to begin with. 

It was only after they booked everyone that Tony realized the kitten was still around. “Wait. Who’s going to take care of the kitten? His owner is going to jail now.”

Everyone looked at each other and then at Tony and took a step back. Gibbs grinned, “Guess he’s yours now, Tony.”

**Author's Note:**

> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> I do not currently have a discord dedicated to my stories. If anyone would be interested in joining a group chat server that is focused on my stories please comment below. Also, if you would like such a thing what kind of things would you like to know about? Please share those with me.
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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